My Understandings

I wake up to find myself on the couch. This isn’t ATL’s bus. This isn’t my bus or my brothers.
“Morning.” I rub my eyes and see Philip staring at me. Oh. No.
“Who bus am I on?” I ask sitting up. This doesn’t look like their bus, but then again I never been on their bus before so who knows?
“Ours. Austin is outside. I wanted to get the story from you. What really happen all those years ago?” I shrugged. Honestly I don’t know. I got up and walked out the tour bus.
“Ellie!” I hear my brother and Austin call. I flip them off and walk towards the BMTH bus. People stare at me. I can hear the whispers and see the glares. I knock on the door and I see Miley.
“HEY! Are you okay? We heard what happened last night.” She pulled me onto the bus and sat me down next to Oli.
“Okay, you’re not gonna like this, but people are calling you a band whore.”
“Me? What did I do? This is our third day on warped!” I didn’t even fuck nobody over! My first kiss in two years and I’m already that girl.
“People say they heard it from Austin. Others say your brother. That’s all we know I that you’re the band whore. But Andy knows the whole story.” I sigh and put my hands over my face. I’m the band whore. I’m the band whore! Before I know it my anger is raging inside of me. I would talk to Andy later; I know Austin is getting ready to perform. I’m going to be front and center. I got to our bus and change. I put on my Warped Vans a fan gave me, shorts and a tank top and I trudge to their set. Making sure my stage pass is on I shove by fans. Most of them give me dirty looks. One even whispers, “Oh, here comes the band whore.” I take off my sunglasses and meet eye contact with the person who said.
“Says the whore herself. Look at yourself before calling me a whore. At least I wear more clothes than a sports bra and stripper shorts.” The girl’s mouth drops and I shove by.
~Miley~
We all search for Ellie. We go to the OM&M stage and their playing Ohioisonfire.
Oh no.
“Oli! He’s going to start a Wall of Death! And if Ellie’s in there she’s gonna be trampled.” I grab his hand and we run into the crowd. They’re moving and bumping so I quickly lose Oli. But that doesn’t matter. A girl and a guy are holding hands as they crowd surf. It’s starting. The crowd is separating into two groups. People are jumping and the moshing is started. He yells and the crowd is jumping. I see Ellie. Oh god. She’s crowd surfing. The two groups crash together and people are shoving each other and pushing. I quickly join in. I push and shove others. I get knocked in the face a couple of time. I even hit fans in the face. Finally the wall dies down but I do not see Ellie.
“Whoa!” Oli is crowd surfing. Fans are grabbing his ass. I duck down to avoid a foot contact with my face. man, how many people came to San Diego? “Nice crowd surfing Ellie!” Oli yells. Ellie?! I need to get on top. I turn to the nearest stranger.
“Hey, can you help me get up there?” he nods and hoists me up on his shoulder. Once I’m up I jump into the crowd. I’m being pushed around and I don’t see how the guys find this “exciting.” It’s like having tiny perverts finally get the chance to touch your ass.
“Fuck you Austin!” I yell. He looks at me and the color drains from his face.
“Let’s all hear it for the Band whore and her friends!” he points to us and I’m dropped. He turns the mic to the crowd and they’re chanting one thing.
“Band whore! Band whore! Band whore!” I sneak past the crowd towards the back and Oli and Ellie come out minutes later. Ellie shots out from the crowd and runs to the nearby bench. Minutes later I see Vic accompanying her. I smile and hope things goes as plan. Or un-planned.

~Ellie~
I don’t even want to recap my experience in the wall of death. All I’m gonna say is that it will leave me with nightmares. I sit on the nearest park bench and slam my head on the table. I lost my shades in the Mosh Pit, so I have nothing to cover my hideous eyes with. They make my face look so big. Finally I cry. All I wanted was an awesome tour and now Austin has it in for me. I hear the click of a camera and I look up. Another flash was taken.
“Vic what do you want? I know you probably hate me too. I’m not a band whore though.” I stifle. I put my head back down and my hands over my head. Vic takes my arm and runs his fingers over it.
“Why do you cut?” he runs his fingers over the newly risen ones.
“I don’t know.” I sobbed. This was something I had been holding in for two years. He hugged me. he embraced me in such a tight hug, he could’ve squeezed out my insides.
“The world needs to know that you are not a Band whore. That’s why I took a pic of you crying. Now come here and take a pic with me.” I slid down and put my face against Vic’s. He kissed me on the cheek as he took the pic and post it on Instagram. He took my hand and lead me outside the venue.
“Let’s go to a taco truck!” We were walking, hand in hand when a girl around 15 walks up. She hands me a pair of shades.
My shades.
“I saw you in the Mosh Pit. They fell off when you got lifted. I caught them.” I took them from her.
“Thank you. What’s your name?”
“Maisie.” I took my phone out and took a picture with her. she handed me her phone and a sharpie. I sign her phone case and I sent the picture to her. I post the picture on Instagram.
This girl is so nice. Thank you so much Maisie.
“You have such an impact on fans.” Vic says as he takes my hand again.
“Eh?” I turned around and pointed at him. “Baby I was born this way!” I sang. He turned around, walked backwards, and pointed at me.
“Baby, let’s get a taco.” He did in a fake Elvis Presley voice. He order three tacos and a Mexican pizza and two cokes. He grabbed our food and sat across from me.
“So, about last night……” my face redden.
“I’m so sorry about my brother and Austin. They’re being really big dick heads. I mean, my brother normally isn’t a dickhead. But sometimes he can be-” Vic leaned over and pressed his lips against mine. I smile as he pulls away.
“Just don’t go back to him.” I nod. Even though it’s true, I long for his touch. I want Austin to run and wrap me up in his arms. I miss his lips against mine. The way his lips look when he eats pepperoni even though he’s allergic. I want to watch Disney movies with him. I miss everything about Austin. I really do. now Vic is nothing compared to Austin. My phone lights up.
“Hello?”
“Ellie! Ellie!” the voice frantically yells.
“Alan? Alan, what’s going on?”
“Austin! It’s Austin! I know you said-”
“Forget what I said, I’m coming.” I get up and run from the table. Nothing matters anymore. Vic doesn’t matter. My show doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is getting to Austin. I’m just so proud I wore Vans today. No tripping or falling for me. I see Austin slumped on the ground on his set, clutching his chest. Two guards shove me back.
“Austin!” I yell. My hands reaching for him. “Austin! Austin!”

Notes